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The American dream that “everything is possible, as long as you want it” works even in tough times. An example in our sector? Jeffrey Deitch, who from being one of the highest quoted gallery managers in New York, has been called to superintend no less than the MOCA in Los Angeles, museum which for some time now has been considered the future Mecca of contemporary art.
Although the press conference will be held in the upcoming days and Deitch still has to accept the proposal put forward by the Californian museum, the news has already crossed the world. It has caused a sensation because no gallery manager has ever been called to run a public museum institution and, if on the one hand there are fears about the usual wall between institutions and private collectors and about the bargaining of the museum collection, on the other it is true that the MOCA has had to face a year of great financial difficulties. Economic problems which were solved with the arrival of private funds, including 30 million dollars given by the collector Eli Broad, who consulted Jeffrey Deitch for the purchase of important works of his collection.
The MOCA, whose former manager Jeremy Strick was removed from his post during the financial crisis, seems to have “dispersed” something in the range of 10 million dollars but many believe that Deitch will be able to recuperate the loss without problems, especially thanks to his excellent entrepreneurial spirit and his client “portfolio”, which includes only names belonging to the international Gotha.
With a degree in history of art achieved at Wesleyan University and a Master’s in Business Administration achieved at Harvard University, Deitch is definitely one of the most active and eclectic figures of the last two decades. Art advisor, dealer, art critic, collector, curator, discoverer of new talents and gallery manager, he has an “alternative” approach in the art system: indeed he chose not to be supinely subjugated to the market logics, preferring to “search for” an environment where the password is certainty.
Deitch started his solid and far-seeing career as a CityBank art advisor and went on to become an independent dealer. Between 1988 and 1996 he built a large network of clients-collectors and of acquaintances among artists, curators, critics, museum managers, as well as collaborating with important magazines of the sector.
In the mid-Nineties he created the Jeffrey Deitch Project, double exhibitive project articulated in two venues in Soho, to which the gallery manager dedicated almost all his energies. High-quality planning aimed at testifying the developments of New York and world performances. Rather than a simple gallery, Deitch loves to define it a “platform for a creative community, the extension of life into art and of art into life”. A nostalgic desire to go back to the roaring years when the Village and Downtown were the meeting point of avant-garde artistic research.
According to the “Los Angeles Times”, the Moca would have addressed thirteen possible candidates including Lisa Phillips, manager of the New Museum in New York, and Lars Nittve, former manager of the Tate Modern and now at the Museet of Stockholm, but in the decisive stage the choice fell without any doubt on Mr Deitch.
Jeff Poe from the Blum & Poe gallery in Los Angeles, among the first to release an interview on the case, stated that the initial amazement and hesitation were followed by great curiosity regarding what will happen if the appointment is confirmed, besides the conviction that Deitch will be able to handle the difficulties inherent to the management of such a museum institution. For his part, the collector Dean Valentine, of the committee of the members of the MOCA, only said that this type of decision can either be disastrous or represent a great opportunity. Therefore, we wonder what will be of the gallery if Deitch does accept the offer.
The case will certainly stir polemics, but if Deitch accepts, he will contribute to bringing great changes on the contemporary cultural scene of the West Coast.
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